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Abstract Abdominal pain is a major symptom of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and has a significant impact on patients’ quality of life. Given the evolving understanding of IBD pathology and management strategies, there is an urgent need to review the recent research findings. In this review, we have analyzed the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and management of abdominal pain in IBD over the past decade. We draw on the current literature and highlight emerging trends, challenges, and advances in this field. By synthesizing key findings, this review provides insights into the complex interplay between abdominal pain, disease progression, and therapeutic interventions for IBD.

Abstract Background Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are pivotal regulators of various human cancers and circ-ERBB2 is abnormally expressed in breast cancer cells. However, the role and mechanism of circ-ERBB2 in HER2-positive breast cancer are still unknown. Methods The circ-ERBB2 expressions in the tumor tissues of HER2-positive breast cancer patients were tested using quantitative real-time PCR. The circ-ERBB2 function was investigated by cell counting kit 8 assay, Transwell, flow cytometry and Western blot. Mechanistically, fluorescence in situ hybridization, RNA immunoprecipitation, RNA pull-down and dual-luciferase reporter gene assays were conducted to confirm the interaction between circ-ERBB2 and miR-136-5p or miR-198 in HER2-positive breast cancer cells. Results Circ-ERBB2 was elevated in the tumor tissues of HER2-positive breast cancer patients. Functionally, the interference with circ-ERBB2 repressed HER2-positive breast cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion and accelerated cell apoptosis. Furthermore, the mechanistic analysis corroborated that circ-ERBB2 acted as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-136-5p or miR-198 to relieve the repressive influence of miR-136-5p or miR-198 on its target transcription factor activator protein 2C (TFAP2C). Meanwhile, in vivo assays further corroborated the oncogenic function of circ-ERBB2 in HER2-positive breast cancer. Conclusions Circ-ERBB2 accelerated HER2-positive breast cancer progression through the circ-ERBB2/miR-136-5p/TFAP2C axis or the circ-ERBB2/miR-198/TFAP2C axis.

ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate the prevalence and related factors of abdominal obesity among urban adults aged 35 to 79 years in southwest China.MethodsFrom September 2013 to March 2014, a multi-stage sampling was conducted, and a total of 10,981 people aged 35–79 years living in Chengdu and Chongqing were included. More than 30 investigators were trained in data collection, including questionnaire, anthropometric measurements and blood biomarkers testing. Abdominal obesity was defined as waist circumference ≥ 90 cm for men and ≥ 85 cm for women.ResultsThe prevalence of abdominal obesity was 30.7%, 24.8% in males and 33.9% in females (p

Abstract This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of dyslipidemia and its related factors among urban adults aged 35 to 79 years in Southwestern China. From September 2013 to March 2014, a multi-stage sampling was conducted, and a total of 10,221 people aged 35–79 years living in Chengdu and Chongqing were included. More than 30 investigators were trained in data collection, including questionnaire, anthropometric measurements and blood biomarkers testing. The prevalence of high triglycerides (≥ 2.3 mmol/L), high total cholesterol (≥ 6.2 mmol/L), high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (≥ 4.1 mmol/L), low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (

ObjectiveThe aim of our study was to assess the prevalence and geographic variation of obesity-related hypertension in China among adults aged 45 years or older.MethodsData were derived from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted in 2015. Stratified sample households covered 150 counties/districts and 450 villages/urban communities from 28 provinces by using household questionnaires, clinical measurements, and blood-based bioassays. A multivariable non-conditional logistic regression model was used to analyze the risk factors correlated with obesity-related hypertension.ResultsThe prevalence of obesity-related hypertension was 22.7%, ~120 million people, among adults aged 45 years or older in China. For people in the age ranges of 45–54, 55–64, 65–74, and ≥75 years, the prevalence of obesity-related hypertension was 16.7, 24.3, 27, and 26.7%, respectively, and the prevalence of obesity-related hypertension among hypertensive participants was 66.0, 60.9, 54.2, and 47.3%, respectively. Compared with non-obesity-related hypertension, the obesity-related hypertensive patients had a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and hyperuricemia (all P < 0.0001). The prevalence of obesity-related hypertension showed a decreasing gradient from north to south and from east to west. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that female gender, living in urban areas, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and hyperuricemia were positively correlated with obesity-related hypertension.ConclusionThe prevalence of obesity-related hypertension among adults aged 45 years or older was high in China. Among hypertensive participants, older age was negatively correlated with obesity-related hypertension. Obesity-related hypertensive participants are more prone to aggregation of risk factors of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Mergers of compact binaries, such as binary neutron stars (BNSs), neutron star-black hole binaries (NSBHs) and binary black holes (BBHs), are expected to be the best candidates for sources of gravitational waves (GWs) and the leading theoretical models for short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs). Based on observations of SGRBs, we can derive the merger rates of these compact binaries and study stochastic GW backgrounds (SGWBs) or the co-detection rates of GWs associated with SGRBs (GW-SGRBs). Before that, however, the most important thing is to derive the GW spectrum from a single GW source. Usually, a GW spectrum from a circular-orbit binary is assumed. However, observations of the large spatial offsets of SGRBs from their host galaxies imply that SGRB progenitors may be formed by dynamical processes and will merge with residual eccentricities (er). The orbital eccentricity has an important effect on GW spectra and therefore on the SGWB and GW-SGRB co-detection rate. Our results show that the power spectra of SGWBs from eccentric compact binaries are greatly suppressed at low frequencies (e.g. f ≲ 1 Hz). In particular, SGWBs from binaries with high residual eccentricities (e.g. er ≳ 0.1 for BNSs) will be hard to detect (above the detection frequency of ~100 Hz). Regarding the co-detection rates of GW-SGRB events, they could be ~1.4 times higher than the circular case within some particular ranges of er (e.g. 0.01 ≲ er ≲ 0.1 for BBHs), but greatly reduced for high residual eccentricities (e.g. er > 0.1 for BNSs). In general, BBH progenitors produce 200 and 10 times higher GW-SGRB events than BNS and NSBH progenitors, respectively. Therefore, binaries with low residual eccentricities (e.g. 0.001 ≲ er ≲ 0.1) and high total masses will be easier to detect by Advanced LIGO (aLIGO). However, only a small fraction of BBHs can be SGRB progenitors (if they can produce SGRBs), because the predicted GW-SGRB event rate (60~100 per year) is too high compared with recent observations, unless they merge with high residual eccentricities (e.g. er > 0.7). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Current guidelines recommend surgical resection as the first-line option for patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); unfortunately, postoperative recurrence rate remains high and there is no reliable prediction tool. We explored the potential of radiomics coupled with machine-learning algorithms to improve the predictive accuracy for HCC recurrence. Methods: A total of 470 patients who underwent contrast-enhanced CT and curative resection for solitary HCC were recruited from 3 independent institutions. In the training phase of 210 patients from Institution 1, a radiomics-derived signature was generated based on 3384 engineered features extracted from primary tumor and its periphery using aggregated machine-learning framework. We employed Cox modeling to build predictive models. The models were then validated using an internal dataset of 107 patients and an external dataset of 153 patients from Institution 2 and 3. Findings: Using the machine-learning framework, we identified a three-feature signature that demonstrated favorable prediction of HCC recurrence across all datasets, with C-index of 0.633–0.699. Serum alpha-fetoprotein, albumin-bilirubin grade, liver cirrhosis, tumor margin, and radiomics signature were selected for preoperative model; postoperative model incorporated satellite nodules into above-mentioned predictors. The two models showed superior prognostic performance, with C-index of 0.733–0.801 and integrated Brier score of 0.147–0.165, compared with rival models without radiomics and widely used staging systems (all P

We study the redshift evolution of the luminosity function (LF) and redshift selection effect of long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs). The method is to fit the observed peak flux and redshift distributions, simultaneously. To account for the complex triggering algorithm of Swift, we use a flux triggering efficiency function. We find evidence supporting an evolving LF, where the break luminosity scales as Lb ∝ (1 + z)τ, with τ = 3.5+0.4-0.2 and 0.8+0.1 -0.08 for two kinds of LGRB rate models. The corresponding local GRB rates are R (0) = 0.86+0.11-0.08 yr-1 Gpc-3 and 0.54+0.25-0.07 yr-1 Gpc-3, respectively. Furthermore, by comparing the redshift distribution between the observed one and our mocked one, we find that the redshift detection efficiency of the flux triggered GRBs decreases with redshift. Especially, a great number of GRBs miss their redshifts in the redshift range of 1 < z <2.5, where 'redshift desert' effect may be dominated. More interestingly, our results show that the 'redshift desert' effect is mainly introduced by the dimmer GRBs, e.g.P <10-7 erg s-1 cm-2, but has no effect on the brighter GRBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of diabetes and unrecognized diabetes in hypertensive patients aged 40 to 79 years in Southwest China. From September 2013 to March 2014, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in 4021 hypertensive patients aged 40 to 79 years living in Chengdu and Chongqing, China. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and 2h plasma glucose (2-hPG) in an oral glucose-tolerance test (OGTT) were used for assessments. Whether the patients previously had diabetes (DM) was determined by their own reports. The survey was carried out by the same questionnaire for all respondents. DM prevalence was 32.0% in hypertensive patients aged 40 to 79 years in Southwest China, with the rates of 29.6% and 33.5% in men and women, respectively (P

We constrain the warm dark matter (WDM) particle mass with observations of cosmic reionization and CMB optical depth. We suggest that the gravitational waves (GWs) from stellar-mass black holes (BHs) could give a further constraint on WDM particle mass for future observations. The star formation rates (SFRs) of Population I/II (Pop I/II) and Population III (Pop III) stars are also derived. If the metallicity of the universe is enriched beyond the critical value of , the star formation shifts from Pop III to Pop I/II stars. Our results show that the SFRs are quite dependent on the WDM particle mass, especially at high redshifts. Combined with the reionization history and CMB optical depth derived from the recent Planck mission, we find that the current data require the WDM particle mass to be in a narrow range of . Furthermore, we suggest that the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) produced by stellar BHs could give a further constraint on the WDM particle mass for future observations. For , with Salpeter (Chabrier) initial mass function (IMF), the SGWB from Pop I/II BHs has a peak amplitude of at , while the GW radiation at Hz is seriously suppressed. For , the SGWB peak amplitude is the same as that for , but a little lower at low frequencies. Therefore, it is hard to constrain the WDM particle mass by the SGWB from Pop I/II BHs. To assess the detectability of the GW signal, we also calculate the signal-to-noise ratios (S/N), which are and for and for the Einstein Telescope with Salpeter (Chabrier) IMF, respectively. The SGWB from Pop III BHs is very dependent on the WDM particle mass, the GW strength could be an order of magnitude different, and the frequency band could be two times different for and . Moreover, the SGWB from Pop III BHs with could be detected by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna for one year of observation, but it cannot be detected for those with . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]